February 11 letters: Labour selection meddling explains unpopularity of Rotherham MP

IT is certainly true that Sarah Champion is not universally popular with members of the Rotherham Labour Party (The Yorkshire Post, February 7), but this lack of popularity has a lot more to do with how she got to become an MP in the first place than anything she has done regarding the Rotherham scandal.

At the meeting to select their new MP after the departure of the disgraced Denis MacShane, local party members in Rotherham were presented with an all-woman shortlist – a very short list, as there were only two names on it.

This was done by the London Labour party who seem to have developed a habit of gifting safe working class seats to middle class people like Sarah Champion. Local councillors had been excluded from selection, and local party members showed their disgust; most of those present at the selection meeting walked out!

The Labour Party has reversed the flow of democracy. In many northern constituencies now a local person is not selected to go and represent the local community in Westminster.

The local community does not have a representative in Westminster, the London Labour party has a representative up here – big difference.